2 Of Us – Kay Ledson & Josh Wood
Bernadette Clohesy Sydney Morning Herald Good Weekend Edition February 7, 2009
Josh Wood, 27, became a quadriplegic in a snowboarding accident when he was just 18. He attributes his remarkable recovery, in part, to the alternative treatments introduced into his rehabilitation program by his devoted mother, Kay Ledson, 58.
Kay: Josh was a very likable kid, but he was wild: even when he was little he was always pushing the boundaries. Being an only child, we brought him up to be very independent. He started skiing when he was two and had his first motorbike at seven. Later we moved to Mansfield [in the Victorian snowfields].
His father, Garry, and I split up in 1992. Josh discovered snowboarding when he was 10, so he stayed in Mansfield with his dad while I came to Melbourne. Both Garry and I were adamant that Josh’s life wasn’t to be changed too much, so I went up there every weekend to see him. Garry’s always been a good father to Josh, but when Josh was about 15 he was out of control. He wasn’t doing well at school; he wasn’t turning up. I had to bribe him to get him to move down in Melbourne with me. In the end I had to buy him a car to get him to do him VCE.
After his exams in 2000, Josh said he wanted to work during the snow season at Mount Buller. He’d just teed up a job and somewhere to live. That weekend there was very, very heavy snow: he decided to build a jump and the rest is history. I had never really been worried about his snowboarding; I was always more worried about him riding his motorbike.
I went to the hospital in Melbourne with my sister; Garry was there, too. The helicopter landed and they wheeled Josh in. He was all geared up with all his equipment and the first thing he said to me was, “Mum, come closer. I’ve been going out with three girls; make sure they don’t all come in here together.” I was thinking, there’s not too much wrong with you.
But about 2 am they took us into a room and a doctor told us, “Your son has had a very serious accident. He’s a C6/C7/TI complete quadriplegic. He may never get out of bed again.” My heart broke; it was like a lump of concrete in my chest. For months afterwards I would keep putting my hand up to my chest because the pain was so bad.
After an operation to rebuild his vertebrae, Josh began the rehabilitation program. The first person I brought in was Simon, a chiropractor who has done a lot of work with spinal cord injuries. I introduced him to the staff as Josh’s snowboarding coach. He was adjusting Josh all the time, trying to get the energy going through the spinal cord again.
Then we got my psychic, Rose, involved. Out of the blue she rang me one morning and said, “We need to go in and see Josh right now.” When we got there they’d just got him out of the bath [after inadvertently leaving him in there for too long] and he was shaking with cold and in shock. Rose went up to him and did some work on his chakras and he calmed right down. That was the beginning of knowing there was another way.
Rose’s daughter-in-law Zara, a massage therapist started coming in as well. Fair play to the hospital, they never, ever kicked me out. We didn’t refuse any of their conventional treatments: we just added our own.
We celebrated every little improvement. When Josh moved his little finger we were euphoric. He was so determined. He made me a promise that he would walk out of the hospital before he turned 19. Four-and-a-half months later he walked out of the rehab centre. It wasn’t much of a walk but he did walk out – on crutches – with his girlfriend at that time.
The past eight years has been at a completely different level to the norm. Sometimes I wish I could just go back to being “Mum” again. There are times when he’s note doing well and I have to push him to get out of bed. And I do get stuck into him if he goes out drinking with his mates; he can’t do that to his body now.
He pretty well does most things; he drags his right leg a bit but he’s trying to walk without his stick. He still doesn’t feel a lot of his body, but he’s back riding motorbikes. I can’t watch him, but I’d never stop him. He says that in the motorbikes he feels like Josh again.
Josh: As I was growing up Mum was pretty open to letting me find my own way in what I wanted to do with my life. She always supported me in my motorbikes and my skiing and snowboarding. She’s not your average mum.
The jump that day was designed for me to jump over the road. I should have made it a little flatter and a little longer. I landed on the road head-first. I was lying there and I couldn’t move and I said to my mates, “Just call Mum. She’ll fix it.”
They sedated me at the hospital and I woke up three days later at 3am. The doctor came in. He’d already looked at my past history and all the broken bones I’d had [these included two broken knees and a broken ankle]. He said, “You’ve finally achieved your goal.” I said, “What goal?” He said, “You’re paralysed and you’ll never walk again.” It was pretty harsh. I freaked and the first person I thought of was Mum. So they called her and she came in. I said to her, “I don’t want to be just a piece of meat living in a bed. I want you to end this.” It’s the only time in my whole life that I’ve ever not wanted to be around.
Mum just turned to me and said, “You can’t kill yourself because you can’t move. Your friends won’t kill you because they know I’ll kill them. And I’m not going to do it because I know you have more in your life that you can’t give up.” I said, “Well, what options do I have? I’m pretty much f…ed.” Mum said, “I want you to try to get a little bit better each day and I’ll do everything physically, mentally and financially to support you.” I really had no other choice. From then on Mum and I just had that pact.
Mum’s strong, motivated… words can’t really describe her. I’ve never seen anyone who’s so dedicated to a task. With my accident, I know it tore her heart out but she never showed me. She copped a lot of grief when I first went snowboarding again and rode a motorbike. My family and friends said, “How could you let him do that?” Mum’s reaction was, “What’s the point of him walking again if he can’t live his life the way he wants to? I know he’s going to be smart and not take things to the extreme the way he used to.”
She’s helped me financially to start up a motorbike clothing company. Once that took off, I began doing motivational talks on the corporate speaking circuit. Mum and I still live together. We’ve had our trying times but you can’t blame her with a son like me.
I love everything I have in my life. I have awesome friends and family and a new girlfriend who’s awesome, too. I look back at the moment when I thought my life was over and now I have so much. I honestly don’t think I would have has this outcome if I didn’t have Mum. Pretty much everything I have is due to her.
Bernadette Clohesy